Violence and Development in the work of Douglass North

What is it about?

Development in poor countries is increasingly framed around the issue of maintaining political stability rather than attaining freedom. This article explores the new theory of institutions violence and development of Douglass North. The article argues that North reduces the problem of violence to a cost of transacting. Further, North's new work reasserts the primacy of free markets while failing to examine the complex political and economic interactions between rich and poor countries.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Douglass North was one of the most important economists of the 20th century. This article examines the work of Douglass North over the past fifty years, in particular his recent work on violence and development and the idea of the limited access order. The article shows that North's new work on violence reformulates some of his earlier assumptions about society but also preserves key aspects of the neoclassical model of the economy on which his earlier work was built. The article argues that framing development around security and order serves to strip the progressive potential from development.